Avatar movie are beautiful with their foreign world. The Avatar world is beautiful with many wonders and this movie shows us this in all it many wonders, flying creatures they ride on, flying fish that take them under water and a room under water that shows them visions of people they love. The family has fled from their home land in the forrest and fly across the ocean to be accepted by a new people. This is becomes the humans are out to get him. Colonel Quaritch is back as a local, with his their strength and he is gunning for Jake and his family. The family must learn the way of water in their next home; an so they do. Sigourney Weaver plays a young woman who is actually her Na'vi daughter. This movie has a very good climax battle between the humans and the Na'vi. The whales, at least one whale joins in. The humans are intent on killing the whales to bring the Na'vi out so they can capture them. This leads to the big fight at the end.
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Tom Hanks Movie Review: ****^Big
Tom Hanks plays Josh, who makes a wish on an old arcade machine to be big, and his wish is granted. When he wakes up the next day he is still a child but in the body of a 30 YO man. His mother Mercedes Ruehl) doesn't believe he is her son, and kicks him out of the house. He becomes a lost child on the back of a milk carton.
The think that makes the movie work is that Josh is still an innocent 13 Year old young man. He finds a job, and the owner of a toy store quickly makes him vice president of marketing as he talks about his love for toys and ideas for toys.
A co worker, Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), falls in love with his naiveté and innocence. They date, and eventually have sex, which causes him to lose some of the naiveté.
His friend Paul (John Heard) does believe that he has been changed. He is helping to find a way to restore Josh to his own self.
A scene that makes this movie special is the piano playing (on a large piano you play by foot) Josh does with his boss (Robert Loggia). The boss realizes that putting some youth into his company is needed.
Monday, October 6, 2025
James Bond Movie Review: ****^The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
This is an exciting James Bond (Roger Moore) movie. Stormburg (Curd Jürgens) is intent on changing the world. To do so he has stolen two submarines, a U.S. submarine and a Soviet submarine with their nuclear weapons. It seems he has created a technology to track submarines. He does not want to hold the world for ransom, just to use the nuclear weapons to change the balance of power in the world. Bond is teamed with a Soviet spy, Amasova (Barbara Bach). to accomplish this. The character Jaws (Richard Kiel) adds considerably to the film. He uses his metal teeth to bite through anything. In addition to the regular support staffm M, Q and Moneypenny, we have the Soviet head of intelligence (Walter Gotell). We also have the British Minister of Defense (Geoffrey Keen). They finally track Stormburg to his lair, but not before he manages to capture a third sub. Great battle on Stormburg's base which he calls Atlantis.
The love relationship between the Bond and the Soviet Spy really works in this movie, as does Jaws.
James Bond Movie Review: ****The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
This movie pits Bond against an assassin who is also developing a solar weapon. Christopher Lee as Scaramanga makes a very good villain. His side kick is Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize). In this movie there are two women, Goodnight (Britt Eklund) who is another agent, and Andrea (Maud Evans) who is the lover of Scaramanga, but Bond uses her, and Scaramanga kills her. Scaramanga has been practicing for some time of killing Bond. And he arranges everything so that eventually he gets his one-on-one with Bond. It does not go as he had planned. Goodnight gets away, and disposes of her guard, but pushes him in a vat, which triggers a chain reaction and a big explosion. Goodnight and Bond make their escape on a Chinese junk.
I think that having Nick Nack, a little man, as the side kick added to this Bond movie. No one expects him to be the bad guy, but there he is. Moneypenny, M and Q seem to have larger roles in this movie. Clifton James comes back creating a cameo of his character from the previous Bond film. However he is now on vacation.
Tom Hanks Movie Review: ****Splash (1984)
This is the movie that launched the career of Tom Hanks. Hanks portrays Allen Bauer and John Candy portrays his older brother, Freddy Bauer. Together they run a vegetable distributor in New York. The movie presents us this first, and Allen's messed up love life. He decides to take a break to Cape Cod, where his family had a happy vacation. But through a series of bad luck, he ends up capsized, and the boat hits him in the head.
He is rescued by a mermaid (Bo Derek) who puts him ashore and waits until he wakes so Allen sees her. She finds his wallet in the ocean, and decides to visit him in New York. She arrives on Liberty Island naked. But she has Allen's wallet, and he is contacted and comes to collect her; which starts a lorid love affair. She has a seven day vacation as a human, but after that she can only stay if she becomes human forever. Allen is unaware of her mermaid qualities, just that she is different. She decides to accept his proposal of marriage, meaning she will give up being a mermaid.
However enters Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy) who is determined to expose her, and prove to the world that his theories on mermaids are real--they do exist. After a couple failures where he sprays water on innocent women trying to turn them to mermaids, he finally does expose her. She is taken away for scientific experiments. He is also taken due to their interaction. However when he proves to have no abilities he is let go. Allen is lost, but his brother reminds him that love is love and is very rare. Allen needs to save her. They recruit Kornbluth for the attempt, and pretending to be Swedish scientists they make the attempt.
The ending is different than you might think. This show is very cute and introduces Tom Hanks to the world. Ron Howard directed. Even with Candy's character being a bit loud, and even Tom Hanks giving Allen the same quality at times, I enjoyed this show. Bo Derek, being a model, does well in an acting roll.
Saturday, October 4, 2025
James Bond Movie Review: ****Live and Let Die (1973)
Roger Moore is introduced as the new James Bond without any loss in intensity. Three British agents are killed, and Bond is sent to figure out what is going on. He finds, Mr. Big/Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) is behind the goings on. Solitaire (Jane Seymour) is reading the cards and providing information for Mr. Big. This movie has a voodoo flavor as two of the deaths occurred in the Caribbean and New Orleans. He discovers that they are planning a heroin operation and disco vers the field. High light of this movie is the boat chase in the bayou, going over berms at times. And who knew Jane Seymour started as a Bond girl. Some of the normal characters including M and Moneypenny. Clifton Jones has a cameo as the sheriff chasing the people going back and forth in boats. David Hedison portrays the CIA man helping.
Interesting movie with the undoing of the voodoo magic and the chase and trying to kill Bond so many times, by shark and by crocodile.
John Wayne Movie Review: ****^The Shootist (1976)
In this movie John Wayne plays a gun man, J.B. Books who is at the end of his days due to cancer. His doctor (James Stewart) gives him something for pain, but lets him know the end is near. He comes to town and takes room and board from Bond Rogers (Lauren Becall). Her son is an impressionable teen, Gillom Rogers (Ron Howard) who is greatly influenced by the thought of being a gun fighter. Books is looking for a way out rather than a slow agonizing death. He finds that in three shady characters in town (Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian and Bill McKinney, and invites them to meet him at the bar for a final gunfight.
The theme of this movie seems to convince Gillom that the life of a gunfighter is not all heroics and glamour. There is good in being a regular person.
This movie is John Wayne's last. He died of cancer in 1979.